The Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea by rémi brague university of chicago, 336 pages, $35 Rémi Brague’s latest book is a learned and meticulously documented exposition of the notion of divine law, from the Greeks through the founding documents of Judaism, Christianity, and . . . . Continue Reading »
The Right Attitude to Rain by alexander mccall smith pantheon, 288 pages, $21.95 Hard to believe that, only a handful of years ago, the name Alexander McCall Smith would have drawn a blank among American readers. An African-born academic in Scotland who specializes in medical law and frequently . . . . Continue Reading »
Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue 1913–1922by alasdair macintyrerowman & littlefield, 224 pages, $25.95 In the summer of 1921, while visiting friends, Edith Stein chanced upon the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. Reading through the night, she completed an important stage in her own . . . . Continue Reading »
Humor receives finitude as a gift, conscious of the suffering intrinsic to human existence, but capable of transcendence. . . . . Continue Reading »
That extraordinary writer of stories about the “Christ-haunted” American South, Flannery O’Connor, was frequently asked why her people and plots were so often outlandish, even grotesque. She answered, “To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you have to draw large and . . . . Continue Reading »
Richard Rorty's Aversion to traditional religion and religious belief is well known. In 2000, for example, he told a packed house of students and former colleagues at the University of Virginia that he was a “militant secularist” and that the Enlightenment was “right to suggest . . . . Continue Reading »
Hans-Georg Gadamer: A Biographyby jean grondintranslated by woel weinsheimeryale university press, 512 pages, $35 It is reasonable to be dubious about biographies of philosophers, even when they are good. For what, after all, is the life of a philosopher? How much a novelist lived the events he or . . . . Continue Reading »
The 1920s and ’30s were a time of intense intellectual ferment in Germany. Radical questioning was the order of the day in every domain of thought, including religion. Take, for example, the uncompromising debate that took place between the young Leo Strauss and Julius Guttmann, a student of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Chesterton was wrong, for that other vision stood in the wings. But, writing in 1908, how could he have predicted that parents would one day pay minds so modest as these for the opportunity to teach their children that they might not exist, that the answer to the question “Are we?” is not . . . . Continue Reading »
Philosophy is made for man, not man for . . . . Continue Reading »
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